The ghouls were annihilated all at once.

They had fallen victim to a devastating combo of water and electric attributes.

Those who fell like trash could not rise again.

"Hehehe."

Junior grinned as if she had won a trophy. She was still dripping with sweat, but she had done a terrific job.

This was the true potential of an elementalist, who could wield multiple attributes simultaneously.

Although not as powerful as a single-attribute mage in their respective field.

She could amplify her power by utilizing multiple attributes.

In layman's terms, she could create her own combos, and it was awesome!

"..."

Jupiter mumbled softly as she stared blankly at her granddaughter's feat.

"...Well done."

"Huh?"

Junior looked at her grandmother, surprised.

"You just said..."

"Cough, cough!"

Jupiter turned her head away, pretending to cough.

Junior's eyes widened in surprise, and I could not help but chuckle.

"All you mages over there, save the family drama for later and focus on the defense."

This was far from over.

Grrrr!

Gahhh!

As if on cue, ghouls and fallen blood surged over the fortress walls.

The ghouls that had charged the plains were taken down by the Silver Arrow + Water Lightning combo just moments ago, but the ones climbing over the walls had been out of the magic attack range and thus remained unharmed.

"Twilight Brigade!"

I called out to those behind me.

The three hundred archers, who had been on standby, simultaneously responded with 'Yes!' and brandished their weapons.

Of the regular soldiers, only three hundred of the Twilight Brigade were arranged for melee combat, and the rest were positioned for ranged attacks.

'Ideally, I would not want to send regular soldiers into melee combat.'

If our soldiers die against the Blood Clan army, they steal our lives. And they use it to restore their own.

In battles, regular soldiers have a much higher mortality rate than hero characters.

Sending them into battle would inevitably result in casualties.

That's why I wanted to conduct the melee combat using only hero characters.

'...That's the pragmatic reason.'

To be honest, I didn't want to see anyone else die.

Perhaps it was because we had too few casualties in the previous stages.

I had become a cowardly commander who feared the death of his subordinates.

However, I know. I understand.

There can't be a battlefront without sacrifice.

Therefore...

"Bring them down!"

I issued an attack command to them.

Woaaah!

As if they were waiting for the order, the Twilight Brigade ran towards the end of the wall, screaming.

Lucas and Evangeline, the Dion Mercenary Group, and the Twilight Brigade.

The members of the melee combat group swung their weapons against the Fallen Blood and flung the ghouls back over the wall.

The corpses of these creatures piled up like mountains below the walls.

They stacked up gruesomely, almost reaching half the height of the walls.

'We've almost wiped out the Fallen Blood and the ghouls!'

Seeing the knight duo and the Dion Mercenary Group dealing with the few remaining Fallen Blood, I thought,

'We've exterminated most of the Blood Clan army! If we keep going like this...'

"Your Highness!"

That's when it happened. Damien called out to me urgently. I quickly turned to look at him.

"What's up?"

"Look!"

Damien pointed at the southern plain, his face pale, and shouted.

"The lord...he's moving!"

"...!"

I clenched my teeth and looked in that direction.

Seven vampires dressed in splendid armor and robes.

Lord Celendion sitting alone on a magic chariot floating in the air.

Two vampire generals in maid and butler outfits standing side by side on the chariot.

In total, ten vampires were now finally beginning their march.

'I don't understand at all.'

I couldn't help but grimace inwardly.

'It's the rule of the game that they come one after another. But this is going too far.'

They hadn't moved an inch while the ghouls, and even the Fallen Blood were annihilated.

Now that 99% of their entire army had been killed, they were slowly crawling out.

'It was like this in the game, too.'

The Blood Clan army always behaved like this.

Only after the Fallen Blood and the ghouls were completely destroyed on the battlefield did the vampires, who could be called the command center, belatedly move.

Whether this foolish behavior was a show of confidence that they could win or something else...

"Well, we can ask them when we cross swords."

With a grim smile, I raised my hand high.

“If only those damned mosquitoes would come close enough for me to hit with my sword!”

I thrust my hand forward.

“Fire!”

“Yes, fire!”

“Let loose!”

Boom! Crash!

The cannons belched flame in unison.

Dozens of shells precisely rained down on those vampiric bastards.

Thanks to our previous experiences and training, our artillery's accuracy was top-notch.

However.

Accuracy was not the issue with these vampire bastards.

Swoosh!

A vampire in a maid's outfit leapt up, kicking off the ground.

In her hand was an axe that looked larger than her own body.

Screeeech!

Along with a deafening tinnitus, the maid vampire swung her axe toward the bombardment.

Then,

Kaboom!

As if she hit something in midair, the shells exploded prematurely. I widened my eyes in disbelief.

'She created a gust of wind by swinging her axe, deflecting our artillery fire?'

This was a baffling display of might. I gritted my teeth, looking at the vampire maid.

I obviously knew who she was. She always appeared with Celendion in the game.

'The physically strongest vampire in Celendion's legion... Beta!'

A monster who mastered the physical enhancement skill tree of the vampires, a living tank.

After effortlessly landing from her leap, Beta gathered her skirt with both hands and curtsied.

Celendion looked on this spectacle as if watching a child's antics, a satisfied smile on her face.

"Those goddamned..."

I gritted my teeth and turned around.

“Burnout! Are you ready to fire?”

The initial artillery salvo was nothing more than a courtesy gesture. We knew they wouldn't take the bait.

But this is different. Let's see how they react to our silver arrow volley!

To my call, Bodybag, who had been helping Burnout load the cannon, quickly responded.

“Loading complete! We're ready to fire!”

The last ten canisters of silver arrows. The rate at which we consumed arrows was truly absurd.

But I never had any intention of sparing them. I shouted.

"Fire full power, Burnout! Give those bastards a taste!"

“...!”

Silently, Burnout nodded at me, took a deep breath, and laid a finger on the trigger.

It seemed as if flames flickered in her opened eyes.

"Fire!"

With my cry,

Whoosh!

Hundreds of silver arrows shot out from the custom ballista at once.

'Exploding silver arrows, you vampire bastards!'

In other words, it's a flamed fly swatter, you get it?!

If you try to crush it with wind pressure like before, the silver dust will rain down over your heads. You don't want that, do you? Now, how will you block it!

Just when the silver arrow rain was about to fall right above the vampires' heads.

Click.

The vampire dressed as a butler, who was standing next to Celendion, stepped forward.

Whooooom!

With a clear sound of magic at work, the butler vampire casually waved his hand. And then,

Stopped.

In midair, hundreds of arrows. All at once.

Just as if someone had paused a video. The silver arrow bombardment was frozen in the air.

“What...”

In the face of this preposterous... truly magical sight, I was momentarily stunned.

Swoosh-

When the butler vampire swung his hand again, the frozen arrows in midair turned 180 degrees backward.

And then, they were launched.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

Eeek!

Backward.

The arrows were fired toward us – specifically toward Burnout, the archer.

“What...”

This unexpected situation had me buffering for a moment.

It was when the arrows were almost upon us that I finally regained my senses and cried out.

“It's exploding arrows! Everyone, shields up-!”

And then, the rain of silver arrows descended upon us.

Kaboom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

“My lord!”

Lucas, who had rushed to me in an instant, raised his sword in front of me in defense.

Evangeline, who had also rushed over, put up her shield and protected the mages and archers around us.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

“Aargh!”

“Nooo!”

The falling silver arrows caused explosions all around. Soldiers caught in the blasts screamed in pain.

After a while, the silver arrow bombardment finally ended.

“Those goddamn...”

Amidst the rising smoke and flames, I glared at the vampire dressed as a butler who had caused all this.

'The most powerful blood magician in Celendion's legion. Alpha!'

A damn monster who mastered the blood magic skill tree.

"No, but even though I would use my skills lavishly in the game, I certainly didn't do stuff like reflecting these arrows!"

'Reality indeed makes magic application quite tasty!'

Vampire General Entities. Alpha and Beta.

One with power. One with magic. Not only did they block our bombardment, but they even threw it back at us.

'Each one of these bastards is just like a boss-tier entity...'

Gritting my teeth at their absurd power, I asked Lucas, 

"What's the damage situation?!"

"We're assessing it now. However, it's not too extensive."

Huh? Why?

I scanned the fortress walls.

There were quite a few casualties, and several cannons and ballistas were torched, but the damage from the silver arrow bombardment was less severe than expected.

And there was a reason for that.

"Ah... the situation was so urgent. I just activated it to see..."

SR grade defensive artifact, Anti-Missile Barrier.

One of the best defensive artifacts for localized battles, slowing enemy projectiles and reducing their damage.

Next to that artifact stood Lilly, with a flustered expression on her face.

In her urgency to return the enemy's arrows, Lilly had hastily activated the artifact.

"Did I make a mistake, Your Majesty?"

I shook my head fiercely, giving a thumbs up.

"You did great, Lilly."

If that Alpha bastard had spread the arrow reflection across our entire fortress, the damage would have been uncontrollable.

Thanks to them attacking us at pinpoint locations, we were able to mitigate the damage with the artifact.

Of course, that didn't mean there were no casualties.

"Guh, urgh...!"

The custom ballista of Burnout, who was the focus of the enemy's concentrated fire, was completely destroyed, and Burnout herself was not unscathed.

Godhand was pulling out an arrow lodged in Burnout with a stern face.

"I'll send the injured to the rear."

At Godhand's words, I nodded and shouted out,

"Margarita!"

At my call, Saintess Margarita and her party members rushed over.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Escort the wounded and heal them! Especially focus on treating this archer friend. She may need to return to the frontline."

Nodding her head, Margarita gathered a white magic power in her hands and spread it out around her.

Huaaah-

As the area healing magic spread out, relief washed over the faces of the soldiers who had suffered minor injuries.

"Bring the wounded this way! Those who can help, please assist!"

Immediately after casting the area magic, Margarita started helping the heavily injured soldiers to the rear of the wall.

Watching the scene of Burnout and the soldiers being escorted one by one, I turned my eyes south again.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The vampire bastards were approaching.

Walking leisurely, as if they were taking a stroll on a spring day.